Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on individual placement and support services for young adults.

Objective: Individual placement and support (IPS) is an evidence-based model designed to help individuals with mental health conditions secure and maintain competitive employment. Young adults are a particularly vulnerable group in need of these services. The COVID-19 pandemic led many public institutions to curtail face-to-contacts, which affected IPS service delivery. This study was part of a broader mixed-methods evaluation examining employment and education outcomes of young adults in nine IPS programs across the United States. A secondary analysis of the qualitative component explored the experiences of IPS teams and state leaders delivering IPS to young adults with mental health conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Method: Participants from the nine IPS programs across five states were interviewed twice during the project. For this secondary data analysis, we focused on COVID-19-related codes. Two coauthors independently reviewed and aggregated the open codes, and the coauthors collaborated to reach consensus. The analysis followed a qualitative descriptive approach.

Results: Two major themes were created from 29 interviews with 30 participants: adaptations and challenges. Adaptations centered on transitioning to virtual communication and remote IPS delivery. Challenges included reduced referral rates and difficulties in building rapport and maintaining engagement.

Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted IPS services for young adults with mental health conditions. Despite these challenges, the need for adaptation spurred innovation, fostering positive changes, some of which may become permanent in the future, showcasing the resilience and creativity of IPS programs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).